Stand for the Family Spotlight

Amy King, founder of The Front Page Campaign

Note: The Stand for the Family Spotlight is a new feature of the Family Watch Newsletter to periodically highlight the successful efforts of individuals and groups around the world working to defend the family. 

A young mother living in Scotland, Amy King, had growing concerns about the questionable covers of newspapers and magazines to which her two children were being exposed.

One particular day, those concerns came to a head when Amy walked into the lobby of a service station garage. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. There, in full display for her children and others to see, was a copy of the Daily Sport, a magazine with a cover photo that was not only inappropriate, but in Amy’s estimation, was pornographic.

She immediately spoke to the manager, who told her that the head office dictated where the newspapers were to be put. Amy next contacted the head office. She was assured that their newsstands would be replaced with stands that had frost-fronted covers so the offending magazine and newspaper covers would not be visible.

However, the stands were never replaced, and when Amy asked about it, there was no response. Amy knew this wasn’t an isolated incident. With other concerned individuals, Amy began investigating the placement and content of sexually graphic publications and found that measures to protect children were woefully inadequate.

Their research uncovered publications that contained no age-rating but that openly discussed sexual activity, even illegal activity such as incest and bestiality. Oral sex and anal sex were recurrent themes. In these publications that children and teens could not only easily see, but could even purchase, prominently displayed advertisements explained to readers how to download pornographic videos for low cost on their mobile phones.

When Amy complained about a particularly graphic display that showed children’s-eye-level images of group sex in a public store, the police referred her to the Trading Standards Authority, who said they couldn't help and referred her back to the police. The only guidelines in place were part of a voluntary code of practice, which was unmonitored and not enforceable. No one would take ownership of the problem.

No one, that is, until Amy King stepped forward. In March 2009, Amy started what she calls The Front Page Campaign. Since then, she has gathered 2,000 supporters, and through a survey, has managed to show that public opinion is strongly in favor of strengthening regulations regarding display and age-ratings of publications. An Early Day Motion in Parliament calling for politicians, publishers, retailers and distributors to take collective responsibility to protect children from sexually graphic material, attracted the support of 156 members of Parliament across all main parties.

The work of The Front Page Campaign and other pressure groups is yielding noticeable results as industry officials, hoping to avoid legislation, are taking measures to voluntarily stop openly displaying sexually graphic publications.

Amy King hopes that the campaign will eventually result in legislation in the UK to prevent printed pornography from being displayed and sold to children and young people.
“We have a long way to go,” Amy said. “Any legislation would be a start, but how far it would go remains to be seen. As things stand, our children can read about illegal sexual acts completely banned from film. It is only a matter of time before our government recognizes and admits that this is wrong.”

Amy King was a featured speaker at the London regional World Congress of Families. To read more about Amy King and The Front Page Campaign, visit www.thefrontpagecampaign.org.uk.

 

 

Note: Family Watch is looking for inspirational stories of individuals and/or groups who are standing up for the family and making a difference somewhere in the world.  To send an entry to be considered for one of our spotlights please email us at spotlight@familywatchinternational.org.  Please describe in three to four paragraphs what this group or person has accomplished along with a pictures (or pictures we can include in a spotlight article. Links to video submissions are also acceptable.